Reality
by FailureToLunch
Summary: Everything was going well for the Pyro, until he begins to realise that his perfect world may not be all that it seems...
1. 1: Pyroland

Birds were chirping and bringing gentle, harmonious music to the ground below. The wispy clouds hovered blissfully across the sky as the beautiful sun shone down upon the wonderful world for all to observe. Anyone surveying the area would see wondrous sights and monuments.

The Cupcake Bridge was there, separating the bases of KANDY and HAPPY from each other. The edges were lined with sprinkled delicacies and the supports were large candy canes, while the top was made from twisting strawberry liquorice. Below it was the water that led into the Friendship Tunnels. These tunnels had marvellous paintings showing people laughing and giving each other presents.

The tunnels lead into two respective bases, each belonging to a different company. Both bases were almost 100% identical in design, except for the company colours that distinguished them from each other. These two bases were home to the organisations KANDY and HAPPY.

Each side was part of different companies that were made specifically to bring more joy and happiness where it was needed. KANDY (Kind And Nice Desiring Youths) was led by Kandymann, a jolly man who had a head full of hair and a large smile, and HAPPY (Handy And Pretty Positive Youths) was headed by Happyfriend, a more pudgy than Kandymann but was just as jolly. Each leader was working with each other to make as many people love life as possible. As such, they needed people to help their operation of optimism.

Each man hired 9 helpers to assist them. Each of these helpers had their own role in the co-operation between the sides. There was the Scout, who dished out short bursts of happiness upon the other side and then either ran off to replenish his happiness or stayed to share more joy.

Then there was the Soldier. He used sparkle-propelled projectiles that exploded into happiness, giving out joy to anyone nearby. Alongside him was the Demoman, who did the same thing but with more precision, the Heavy, who dealt out continuous amounts of friendship, the Engineer, who built machines of mass joy-bringing, the Medic, who allowed his friends to replenished their happiness meters, the Sniper, who aimed to give everyone instant happiness, and the Spy, who threw his target a surprise party with his gladness tools.

Then, of course, there was the Pyro.

He loved this world of friendship and niceness. It suited him just fine, being with KANDY. Everyone was his friend and no-one was mean to him. Every time he gave a certain someone enough happiness, he gained a new best friend. It was moments like those that gave him joy to know that he was slowly making the world a new place.

Unfortunately, his best friends would sometimes break up with him, and they would go back to being just friends. Sometimes, even he would be forced to break up with his best friends, but most of the time would try to patch up the relationship by showering them with rainbows from his magic trumpet. They would laugh as they lay on the ground, covered in sparkles, as the laughter slowly faded away. Then they would come back soon after and continue being his friends.

His life was perfect. The loudspeakers would sing melodious songs to him and he would laugh along with the Scout as he lay giggling in pure happiness while the sparkles enveloped him. He wouldn't give up this life for anything.

One night, Pyro was watching the sunset, dangling his feet above the water as he sat at the edge of the wall, humming one of his favourite tunes. "Hmmph mph hmph…" he hummed as he lay back and put his gloved hands behind his mask head. He liked the mask. He didn't know why, but he liked it. He never wanted to take it off. He closed his eyes and got himself lost in his thoughts.

Soon, someone joined him. He opened his rested eyes and turned to see the Engineer, floating in the air and wearing a small white diaper. "Hey, Pyro," he began, speaking to his friend in a high-pitched voice, "wanta come inside? Dinner's cookin'." The Pyro responded by nodding and indicated that he would be there in a minute. "Alrighty then. See ya soon." The Engineer then floated away, leaving behind a small trail of rainbows.

When he was sure he was gone, Pyro reached into his pocket and pulled out a small unicorn. It looked at him and neighed softly, urging him to snuggle it. He did so, holding it close against the side of his mask and snuggling it, sighing as he heard it neigh in pleasure at his touch. He could not go anywhere without his Balloonicorn. It was his bestest friend of them all, over all his other friends and the other team. It listened to him, talked to him, and understood what he was saying. When his friends weren't there, it was.

He hugged the Balloonicorn for a while more, and then remembered what the Engineer had said. He quickly but carefully slid the doll back into his pocket and hurried off to the dinner table.

When he got there, he found all his friends waiting for him. The Soldier and Demoman were having a heartfelt conversation about the last bread roll, and Soldier hit Demo around the side of the head, which earned a laugh from Demo. The Heavy was sitting across the table eating a roast chicken while the Scout congratulated him on gained another ten pounds, which caused the Heavy to roar in laughter and give Scout's neck a hug, but the Medic managed to separate them.

Pyro took a seat next to Engineer, who was gleefully watching the situation play out before him. "Ain't it _**wonderful,**_ Pyro? These fellas all just _**being friendly and taking the sadness**_ out of each other." Pyro could never quite put his gloved finger on it, but sometimes during conversation, the people talking to him would sometimes have moments in their sentences where their voices would sound slightly… distorted. They just never sounded very right to him.

But Pyro just ignored this small matter and simply replied "Uh-huh," before filtering a bowl of soup through his mask. "Good to hear," the Engineer chuckled; "now I wanted to ask you somethin', boy."

Pyro looked up at Engineer, surprised. Usually, his friends would just talk to him about how much happiness was spread that day or how many best friend they had made. They never questioned or asked him anything. He put a hand to his chin and slowly thought to himself. _Should I let him? _

Eventually, he reached the conclusion that no real harm could come of it, and turned back to Engineer, nodding his head and motioning for him to talk.

"Well," he began, fidgeting nervously in his seat, "I just wanted to know… um… what you look like?"

Pyro was quite taken aback. All this time, he had never once considered what he really looked like. He knew that he had known at one point, but the memories of what he really looked like were long gone, if they were ever there. Engineer waited for an answer, and then asked again. "What do you look like under that mask?"

"Hmmph huh," the Pyro answered, not sure what he was trying to get across. The Engineer sighed and said "Ah said, _**you needn't worry. I don't need to know anything about you, especially not what you look like.**_" Pyro's head whirled around in surprise. There was the distorted voice again, but this time it had taken up an entire sentence. That never usually happened.

His head started to ache in confusion and he instinctively put a hand to the top of his mask, trying to steady himself. He grabbed the edge of the table and wandered off, still holding his head in his right hand. "Guess I could get an answer tomorrow, maybe?!" the Engineer called after him in his squeaky voice, but he ignored him and just wandered through the flower-filled hallways leading up to the quarters. He could talk to Engineer when the morning came.

He slumped down on his bed and attempted to soothe the headache. He pulled his Balloonicorn out to comfort him and held it against his chest, rolling over onto his back. He felt tears in his eyes and a pain in his gut. He had not had this kind of feeling for a long time, not since…

**nO.**

The distorted voice. It was there.

**thAt nEvER HaPPeNed. fORGet AbOut iT. **

It was extremely different now though. He didn't like this voice. The old one was weird, but it was still happy and friendly. This one scared him. It was too… mean.

**fORGet mEan. I aM yOuR FRIend. I aM **_**your friend, Pyro. The only friend you will ever need.**_

The voice had returned to normal now, but he still wasn't sure. Could he still trust it?

_**Don't you agree? Don't you think I'm your friend?**_

A short silence followed. The Pyro stared down at his fluffy pillow, as if the voice were emitting from there. Then, he slowly nodded his head. _Yes. You are my friend._

_**Good. Sleepy time now.**_

The voice faded away, and the headache with it. However, he had forgotten all about the headache by now. All he was thinking about was the voice, about what it was, where it was from. A train of questions and unlikely answers raced through his mind until his body could take it no longer. He slumped down on the bed and fell asleep almost instantly.


	2. 2: Trouble

"That _**delicious dessert tray **_ain't gonna move itself!" cried the HAPPY Sniper towards his friends before noticing the sparkling, glowing projectile that was headed his way. His mouth became a large grin and he yelled out in joy just as it hit him, allowing the Pyro to make his way towards the HAPPY base.

Today, the HAPPYs had a new objective in mind: bringing a dessert tray piled high with delicious treats and delicacies to KANDY's front door. But KANDY had already had a big breakfast and weren't that hungry, so they tried to convince the other side not to deliver their present.

But HAPPY insisted that they deliver their gift, so both groups got their happy tools and prepared for a fun-filled time.

Seeing a Scout rushing towards him, Pyro pulled out his KANDY® Bubble Blower and fired off a shot, covering the Scout with bright, shiny and colourful rainbow sparkles that gave him soft and happy laughter. Pyro watched silently as he fell over from laughing too hard, holding his chest and smiling mouth open.

As his loud laughter slowly quietened down to a giggle, Pyro thought back to the previous night. What had he been about to think about? What had stopped him from remembering whatever it was he was about to remember? Looking for consolation, he pulled out his small Balloonicorn doll again and gave it a squeeze, making it let out a small squeak which quickly faded.

_So many questions, my friend, _he silently told his small buddy, _what should I do?_

He waited for a while, but nothing happened. The amount of time he spent waiting, however, was enough time for the HAPPY Soldier to send a sparkle shot his way and make him explode with joy, causing the small doll to fly through the air, and land straight into someone's gloved hands.

A tingling sensation came over the Pyro, and he relaxed as the system of respawn enveloped him, giving him the feeling of relaxing in an armchair. A screen appeared in front of him, displaying the current situation of the field.

A Demoman was laying out sticky-gums, which he used soon after to surprise a lone Medic, who had gone out adventuring in search of friends. The doctor squealed in delight as the gum splattered itself all over him. A Scout was making his way up to the frontlines, giggling and holding a giant candy cane above his head, as he prepared to stuff it into the mouth of an unsuspecting Spy, who was lighting a pink candle.

Pyro chuckled and continued to observe the mischievous antics that all his friends were taking part in. But… what was that? He jerked forward as he noticed the HAPPY Engineer holding something in his gloved hand. Something pink and inflatable.

_Balloonicorn._

The instant the respawn restored his body and placed him into the decorated spawn room, he dashed past a recently spawned Heavy, who giggled and waved, through the doors and headed straight for the sentry nest where the Engineer resided. Nearby, he heard the sounds of a Demoman playing tag with Soldier with his giant milk bottle, but he didn't have time to play. He took out his Rainblower and turned a corner to find himself face-to-face with a Sniper, who smiled pleasantly at him. There was no time for formalities, however, as the Sniper soon discovered as he fell over, holding his belly and chuckling while sparkles and little stars floated around him.

Pyro continued to weave around the field, searching and listening for the Engineer and his toys. In the distance, he heard shouts of laughter and knew he was missing out on the fun, but it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered to him was finding that Eng-

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

There it was.

He ducked behind a wooden barricade with various drawings on it and peeked around the side, surveying the area before him. There stood the sentry nest, complete with dispenser, sentry, and Engineer. The sentries of both his team and the other's had always fascinated Pyro. They had small drawings painted on them and when they upgraded, more pictures would appear, more interesting than the last. He had already seen the drawings on his own team's sentries, but whenever he tried to take a look at the other team's ones, they would fire hundreds of tiny marbles at him, and rockets powered by bubbles would head towards him. So how was he going to get past it?

While he thought of what to do, he heard something uncloak beside him. He pulled out his giant lollipop, and turned to see the KANDY Spy, with one finger on his mouth, and the other hand wielding a Slappy Sappy. Realising what Spy had in mind, Pyro nodded and stayed behind cover, waiting for the opportunity. Knowing that Pyro had his back, Spy pulled out his costume kit and disappeared before him, leaving only a thin outline only visible to members to KANDY to identify him.

Bracing himself, Pyro prepared for the offense. He put his back against the wall and tested the trigger his Rainblower, watching the sparkles softly sprinkle out like tiny dust particles in a sun ray. Gripping it tighter, he held his breath and listened for the sound of the Sappy. In the distance, faint laughter and jingles could be heard, giving him some idea of the current situation of the ongoing playtime.

'_Five minutes until bedtime, sweeties!'_

The voice on the intercom switched off almost as soon as it came, and he knew he had to hurry. If he didn't get his friend back by naptime, Balloonicorn would have to sleep over at the HAPPY's place! What was that Spy doi-?

"Spah slappin' mah sentry!"

A slapping sound arose, and Pyro took the opportunity. He immediately dived out of his cover and rushed towards the nest, where the Engineer attempted to pry two small, comically gloved hands off his Sentry. Noticing the incoming Pyro, Engineer threw his hands up in ecstasy, grinning from ear to ear, and ran towards the nearby stairs.

Leaving the Slappy Sappy to do its work, Pyro followed the Engineer, giggling and thinking to himself, _Silly Engineer, that's my Ballonicorn, not yours! _He got to the bottom of the staircase, but only had time to look up before the Engineer dived on him, giggling and laughing. They both fell to the ground, having a fun little wrestling match, with both of them rolling around in the dirt.

Suddenly, Engineer's hands reached out and grabbed the bottom of his mask. Realising his predicament, Pyro tried to push him off quickly, before anything happened. Still shoving, Pyro yelled "Stop it! I can't-!"

The Engineer tugged one more time.

The insulated rubber mask came off.

And Pyro's perception of reality was shattered into millions of tiny pieces.


	3. 3: Reality

Screaming.

The first thing that reached his ears was loud, horrible screaming.

He did not know where it was coming from, or who it was coming from. All that mattered was that it was the first time he had heard screaming in over seven years.

He opened his eyes, and intense pain shot through his bloodshot eyeballs. Reflexes took over and he squeezed his eyes shut, hoping it would somehow shut out the agony running through his eyes. When it didn't, he slowly began to open his eyes, fighting through the pain.

When they fully opened, he saw the blue sky. Nothing but a blue sky, with a few scattered clouds here and there. No flying unicorns, no swirls, not even the clouds had much variety. They were just white, breaking apart and forming back together.

The screaming had stopped. Curious, Pyro- if that was truly his name- forced himself up on his still-covered hands, still forcing himself to ignore the pain and see what the hell was going on. Scattered refuge of the sentry lay nearby, all the cute drawings replaced by rust and dirt stains. The ground was devoid of flowers and scattered candy, with nought but a few clumps of dry, yellow grass in the same places. The sounds of playtime in the distance had disappeared, instead cries of both pain and cruel laughter could be heard.

He looked to his left and was shocked to see the Engineer, who he had been playing with not a few moments ago, lying flat on his face, wearing overalls, a hard hat and some sort of black mask in his gloved hand. And he was burning, covered from head to toe in all-consuming fire.

Pyro looked away and began to grasp around him, reaching for something, ANYTHING that could bring him back to his wonderful world. Suddenly, his hand grasped around a familiar handle, one that belonged to his Rainblower. Overjoyed that he could finally see something that he recognised, he pulled it in front of him to see. What he saw instead finally shattered any hope that he could go back to that wonderful world.

His rainblower, his prize possession, had been replaced by a beast of cold steel, with a gas canister attached to the bottom and a small flame lit at the base of the barrel. Just by looking at it, he could instantly tell that this was a tool for mass destruction. It had already killed many people and would kill many more. He knew because this was his weapon, HIS tool of mass destruction, which had killed countless people.

All killed by him.

He dropped it in shock, wishing he could undo all of this, simply to go back to his wonderful world of lies he had built for himself.

Lies. That was all it was made of. And he knew it.

Before he could control himself, he began to sob, the salty tears running down his face and into his mouth. He was horrible. He could not fit into this world. He was a _monster_.

"_Monsieur_ Pyro?" He jerked his head up at the voice and saw the Spy, completely transformed from his former self. He still wore the face-covering mask, but now he wore a classy pin-striped suit, with a cigarette in his mouth and a large, silver-barrelled revolver in his gloved hand. He had a look of surprise on his face and a worried tone in his voice, but as soon as Pyro looked up, his face turned from a look of surprise to complete horror.

"Mon dieu…" he muttered, obviously shocked at Pyro without his mask.

"What? What is it?" was all that Pyro managed to get out in a raspy voice before he started to cough violently. He felt like his lungs were trying to break their way out of his ribcage. Hell, maybe they were. After the coughing ceased, Pyro attempted to stand up, arms and legs shaking, only to fall back down again a second later. "The hell…? I can't…"

"Shh, Pyro," the Spy said, his voice now devoid of its usually high-pitched tone. He knelt down beside him to take a better look at him, brushing some sandy dust off his insulation suit. Off in the distance, he could hear someone shouting in a loud, American voice that sounded like the Soldier, but that didn't matter. He had just remembered something.

"B…" he mumbled, his exposed lips now speaking something understandable for the first time in a long while. "What is it, _Monsieur? _Are you trying to speak?" Spy asked, looking down at his face. He licked his lips feebly and tried again.

"Ba… Balloon…"

"Ballonicorn?"

He nodded and smiled, glad that Spy could understand him. "Yes…"

"I am not sure why you would want zat silly toy in a situation like yours, my friend. You are badly injured and- LOOK OUT!" Spy yelled before diving away and behind a barricade, activating his cloaking device in the process. Pyro heard someone yell "MAGGOT!" and turned around quickly, seeing the rockets a second before they made impact.

* * *

Spy stood at the infirmary door, listening to the sounds of stitching and quiet German swears coming from inside. He pulled the cigarette he had been smoking out of his mouth and blew a trail of smoke leading upwards, watching it snake towards and through a nearby vent that led to Engineer's room. This earned a little smirk from Spy, who knew Engineer's slight disapproval when it came to smoking.

He heard a muffled cry of unconscious pain from the room, and he grimaced as he remembered the state of the Pyro when he had found him laying the dust, face as clear as day. He had to admit, it was not what he had excepted. He had thought that he would live out the rest of his days wondering what was behind that mask, seeing as every previous attempt at taking it off often earned a swat on the cheek and an angry Pyro. But now, he finally had the chance to see what was under that mask. It was not pretty.

He noticed the cigarette beginning to burn out, and crumpled it on the wall behind him, watching the small particles of crushed paper flutter to the ground. He sighed while the small fibres of smouldering, charred cigarette touched the ground. He hoped the Medic knew what he was doing. He had often said he was professionally trained and mentally stable, but his tendency to chuckle under his breath in the field had led Spy to question this. Still, they did not have time to find someone else and the Medic at least knew enough to handle the situation, so it would have to do.

The sound of echoing footsteps came his way, and he lifted his head to see Demoman coming his way, a bottle of famed Scottish alcohol in one hand and his beanie in the other. Demoman himself had not noticed Spy until the Frenchman cleared his throat, causing him to glance up.

"Oh, Spy, it's just you." He sat down on the metal bench, back hunched, and looked over at Spy. "How is he?"

"I'm afraid I cannot answer that, my friend. Ze doctor has been taking a while, and any attempt to talk to him has been left unanswered." He opened his disguise case and took out another cigarette, then offered it to the Scotsman.

"Eh, none for me, lad. I don't feel like it now." Demo rubbed the back of his neck and sat up straight, looking at Spy again. "Think he'll be alright?"

"No idea." Spy let that hang in the air for a bit, hoping his colleague would be satisfied, but still he sat, waiting for Spy to continue. "If I had to give you a definite answer, though, I'd say that our Medic should have him in good hands. All I'm worried about is what the rest of ze team thinks of zis mess…"

"I've told Heavy and Soldier already. Heavy isn't too happy about the whole thing, as you could guess."

"And Soldier?"

"He just started to rant about some bloody story of his about Nazis and the war and other stuff." Demo took a swig of his bottle and wiped his mouth, then continued. "Thankfully, I was already too drunk to hear his ramblings."

Clearing his throat, Spy opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a loud noise from inside the operating room. He expected a stream of German profanity to follow, but instead heard footsteps coming towards the door. Finally, after all this waiting, they would be allowed a proper look at what they knew every day as Pyro. Spy straightened his crooked tie while Demoman put his beanie back on his head, awaiting the news.

The door opened to reveal a sweaty and blood-covered but smiling Medic. "Mein friends," he began, "I have something to show you." He motioned for them to come inside, and they started to follow him in. Just as they were about to close the door, however, a deep voice resounded through the corridor.

"Doktor!"

Spy held the door just in time for Heavy to grab the edge of it and yank it open, wrenching it from Spy's hands, earning painful protest from the Frenchman. He was without his vest and bullet belt, instead only wearing a plain red shirt and black trousers. Stopping to catch his breath, Heavy began talking. "I heard loud noise and thought Doktor was in trouble. But everything is fine?"

"Yes, comrade," Medic said, clasping his hands together, "all is well. In fact, it is much better now zat you are here. You shall now be able to witness the true face of our friend, Herr Pyro. Come, I will show him to you all now."

Once Heavy closed the door, all four mercenaries made their way over to the brightly lit operating table. The light flickered slightly, giving off the impression of some sort of horror film. It wasn't hard for any of them to imagine, having been with the Frankenstein of a man for so long and yet knowing so little. Who knew, maybe he WAS a Frankenstein.

As they got nearer, their steps became more cautious and Demo set down his bottle on a nearby table. The table was covered fully by a blood covered but mostly white sheet that had the unmistakable shape and size of their teammate outlined beneath it. The Medic briskly walked over and moved to the other side of the table, while the others took their places on their own side. Looking to each of them, he grabbed hold of one end of the sheet.

"Are you ready for zis, mein friends?"

Each one of them nodded, the Spy somewhat hesitantly, and Medic smiled at their conformation. Without another word, he pulled the sheet off the top of the table.

The Demoman gasped.

The Spy swore under his breath.

The Heavy put a hand to his gaping mouth.

With hair restored, face reconstructed and his eyes looking in their direction, the Pyro was the spitting image of former President Abraham Lincoln.


End file.
